Summary

A champion in Sydney at just 20 years old, [Bekzat Sattarkhanov] of Kazakhstan appeared likely to be one of the stars of amateur boxing for much of the next decade. Tragically he was dead within three months of his Olympic triumph as a victim of a New Yearâs Eve car crash in his native country.

His replacement on the Kazakh team, [Galib Dzhafarov], had proved a worthy successor to Sattarkhanov, and looked destined to follow his late compatriot as Olympic champion after he won the gold medal at the 2003 World Championships in Thailand. By coincidence Dzhafarovâs main rival for Olympic glory was also born in Kazakhstan although [Vitali Tajbert] was by now representing Germany.

Dzhafarovâs hopes were dashed by [Aleksey Tishchenko] of Russia in the quarter-finals whilst Tajbert exited via the fists of North Koreaâs [Kim Song-Guk] and was made to settle for the bronze medal.

Tishchenko, a 20-year-old from Omsk, was inexperienced in international competition but proved a revelation at his 1st Olympic Games. He did have a massive stroke of luck in his 2nd round bout against [Åahin Ä°mranov] when his Azeri opponent was ruled out by a bad cut in the final round whilst holding a big lead but from then on he put together some fine displays to became the first Russian winner in over 30 years.

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